He wished she’d cease telling him things he knew and get out of his gods damned way.
“And because you lost it,” she continued, “this is why your love is not easy to win, and you not an easy man to love.”
He said nothing for she was again telling him something he knew.
“I will share if I see more,” she declared, finally moving out of the way.
“My gratitude,” he muttered, shifting toward the door. Hand on the doorknob, he turned back to her. “I wish you to stay with Loretta tonight. Lady Madeleine and I will be going back to my children. We travel with a guard and a witch.”
She nodded.
“You will be escorted back to her in the morning.”
She again nodded.
He jerked up his chin. “Sleep well, Meeta,” he muttered, turning from her, but before he could enter the room, she called, “Wolf.”
He turned back.
“You will not know,” she started quietly. “You will never know. I have lived a life in service. That forced on me or that necessary to put food in my belly, clothes on my back. In this world, all have their place. In her world,”—she inclined her head to the door—“I sense, they do not. In her world, I am her equal. Thus in this world, that is how she treats me. Even if I am in service to her, she never makes me feel this is the case. In this world, in my place, such as this is a gift more valuable than a hundred chests of gold. You can never understand this, but I do. And it is a treasure I wish to keep…for always.”
“Then you shall keep it,” he replied softly.
She dipped her chin.
When he regained her eyes, he said, “Thank you for what you did tonight, Meeta, and for all you do for my Madeleine.”
Her mouth grew soft.
He nodded to her, finally turned to the door and entered the room.
Madeleine was curled up in a chair pulled to the windows. The curtains were open, and she had her chin to her raised knees, gazing at the village of Brunskar.
“My dove,” he called gently and watched her body jerk, her head turning to him. “We must be away.”
“Away?” she asked.
“To the children,” he explained, walking toward her. When he got close to her chair, he crouched down at her side. “We will have a guard and a witch with us. The Keer parcel has been destroyed, the enchantments recast. We are safe to journey, poppy. But with what happened tonight, I do not wish to be far from you or my children.”
She drew in a deep breath but nodded while doing it and unfolded from the chair.
He looked around the room. “Has Melba offered you a cloak?” he asked.
“No,” she answered and when he looked back to her, she was again gazing out the window.
“Maddie,” he called and her eyes came to his. “We will be safe, dove,” he whispered.
Her teeth worried her lip but she nodded.
“Loretta is to stay here and rest, Meeta is with her. They will return tomorrow and we’ll be away to Karsvall.”
She nodded again.
He held his hand to her. “Let us find you a cloak and be on our way.”
She took his hand without a word and followed him out. Most of the servants were awake, seeing to the rush of activity that ended the night. Thus they acquired a cloak easily.
However, Maddie swayed to a halt at his side when they hit the top of the steps outside the front door.